Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to test-object-information acquisition apparatuses and test-object-information acquisition methods.
Description of the Related Art
Diagnostic apparatuses, such as diagnostic ultrasound apparatuses and photoacoustic imaging apparatuses (diagnostic photoacoustic apparatuses), are well known. Because such diagnostic apparatuses are not involved with X-ray radiation, these apparatuses are attracting attention as safe diagnostic apparatuses with no risk of radiation exposure. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-22812 discusses a test-object-information acquisition apparatus as an example of such a diagnostic apparatus. This test-object-information acquisition apparatus causes a light source, a photoacoustic probe, and an ultrasound probe to scan across an image capture area on a test object so as to create a photoacoustic image and an ultrasound image over a wide area and to superimpose the two images onto each other.
In the apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-22812, the information of the test object is acquired while the probes scan across the test object. However, since the method for acquiring the test-object information varies between the photoacoustic image and the ultrasound image, the information obtained from the two images is often inconsistent.